Carthel remains second in Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year voting

Texas A&M University-Commerce head football coach Colby Carthel remains second in the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year voting as the 2013 regular season comes to a close. Voting remains open for a couple more weeks, so there is still plenty of time to help get Carthel into the number one slot!

To vote in the 2013 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award, fans must have a Facebook account, then "Like" the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Facebook page. Fans can vote once per day with the top vote-getters moving on to the national ballot.

The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award recognizes college football coaches who demonstrate Responsibility, Integrity, Sportsmanship and Excellence both on and off the field. Endorsed by the College Football Hall of Fame and now in its eighth year, the program awards one winning coach from each NCAA division (I-FBS, I-FCS, II, and III) with $50,000 to donate to a charity of their choice, a $20,000 grant to each school's alumni association, and the Coach of the Year trophy.

Fan voting will decide the top 15 coaches from each division that are eligible to become finalists. Liberty Mutual then uses their patented, objective scoring model – which is endorsed by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame – to determine ten finalists from Division I-FBS and five finalist coaches from each of the other three divisions, based on the following criteria:

• Responsibility• Integrity• Sportsmanship• Excellence • On the Field • Off the Field

Previous winners of the award include Brian Kelly (Notre Dame), Les Miles (LSU), Gary Patterson (TCU) and Nick Saban (Alabama) at the Division I level with New Haven's Peter Rossomando capturing the award for Division II last season.

Carthel and the Lions notched one of the most memorable seasons in recent history in 2013, finishing 7-4 for the program's first winning season since 2001 and marking a six-game improvement from each of the past two seasons. A&M-Commerce recorded a pair of victories over nationally-ranked opponents and are in possession of both the Chennault Cup and President's Trophy for the first time after victories over rivals A&M-Kingsville and Tarleton State.

Numerous records were broken on the field this fall, including breaking the program record for most points (417) and points per game (37.9) in a season, besting the 1990 team's marks of 396 and 36.3, respectively. A&M-Commerce also ranked first nationally in blocked kicks while ranking second in all of Division II in sacks and third in tackles for loss.

For more information on the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, visit the official website at CoachOfTheYear.com.